Lost in Translation

One of the many things I enjoy about working with patients and families all over the U.S.A. as a nurse is the exposure to multiple cultures.

I do appreciate others’ expression of their personal history whether it’s the international pot luck in the break room during the holidays (Delicioso!) or speaking in Patois French to a Haitian patient in the Emergency Room. It can be a challenge too, when you have to tell the laboring mom that burning incense is not allowed in her room due to fire risk with all the flammable gases piped in and floating around.


I have worked in many different communities including the Midwest, North and South Florida, and California. (Talk about different languages!) Midwesterners have a vocabulary all their own, “Pop” instead of Soda? Are you kidding me?
In the Southern U.S., Ya’ll is noun, verb, adjective, you name it. A true Southerner can conjugate the word.
In my home State of California, “Dude” and “Like” are the overused exclamations for all seasons and occasions. You crash your skateboard, “Dude?” Your dog is lost, “Duude”. Your homies (friends) are treating you bad, “Dude”. Your dog is found! “DUDE!!!!” Dude seems more the province of the men folk below the age of 25 y/o in California, but Like, ah well, that’s the girl’s specialty. “Like, Omigod! I was like, I hated like everything, like everything like my mother picked out, it’s like, LIKE, I can’t like stand, Like I mean like Totally, LIKE Cannot Stand like anything she like got at Fred Segel, like, it’s like, OMIGOD, like just give me the Like Black AmEx and Like Drop Me off like there! Like, She is so, like Oh like, Puhleeze, Like, Like, Out of It”. (I apologize if I caused you to go cross eyed or lower your I.Q.)

In my job I work with patients and families over the telephone or through email exclusively, sometimes from thousands of miles away. We use a translation service to provide an interpreter so we can talk with our patients who are not fluent in English. Spanish is the language which I most frequently use a translator. I can understand some “Spanglish” based on my study of French, Latin, and by virtue of living in Los Angeles where it is ubiquitous. (Sometimes, even when English is the primary language, an interpreter might be helpful. The author,George Bernard Shaw said English is a common language separated by two people meaning the English and Americans, but I think this is just as true for Americans trying to communicate with other Americans.)


Yesterday, I worked with Mien interpreter for the first time. I had never heard of this language. It is spoken in southern China, northern Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.

My fondest memory of how humans communicate with each other across language and culture is when I used a Thai translator last spring.
I was having a good discussion with the patient using the translator and addressing some concerns. I asked a question to which the person gave a lengthy and obviously detailed answer. I had to chuckle when the translator gave me the reply, “No”.

It’s ironic to me at times, I feel I am better with the interpreter, that it gives me more time to listen and reflect on the person’s response including tone of voice and expression.
I really appreciate the insight and healthy examination of my culture, biases, and beliefs in my work. I have also learned we all have culture, not necessarily “exotic”, but so telling of our personal history. I really enjoy the wide diversity of my friends and acquaintances whether they be from the Philippines or Philadelphia.

Thank you for “listening” and I would be delighted if you share some of your own unique culture or of someone else who you met or touched you.